Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
1 1~8528
,~ 1
Internal Combustion Engine
sackground of the Invention
Field of the Invention
.
The present invention relates to internal combus-
tion engines and especially to improvements in internal
combustion engines having an auxiliary ammonia gas
feed metering gas through a dissolution system ints
the comhustion chambers and also reducing the normal
hydrocarbon fuel-air mixture of the engine to lean
the engine below its normal operating mixture.
Description of the Prior Art
In the past, a variety of internal combustion
engines have been provided and typically these engines
have a system for feeding a hydrocarb~n fuel, such as
gasoline mixed with air, into the combustion chamber
for running the engine. Such engînes typically also
have an electrical system which includes a generatOr
or an alternator which may be connected through an
electrical regulating circuit for charging a storage
battery and for operating the electrical components
of the engine of the vehicle. Internal combustion
engines sometimes have hydrocarbon fuels mixed with
air in a carburetor where the mixture is distributed
into the combustion chambers of the engine. It is
also typical to feed the air to the combustion cham-
bers whiIe using a fuel injection system for injectingfuel directly into the combustion chambers. The pre-
sent invention can be adapted to operate with either
a carburetor or fuel injection system.
A variety of hydrogen fueled engines have been
suggested in the past, including those using combi-
nations of hydrogen and oxygen, which in some cases
~ . `
~I 16~52~
are generated in an electrolytic cell having an
electrolyte including solutions of salts, acids or
bases in water. The electrolytic cell breaks the
water down between hydrogen and oxygen through
electrolysis and the hydrogen or the hydrogen and
oxygen in combination can then be used to run the
engine. The advantage o~ the hydrogen and oxygen
fuel is that it is an eficient fuel which yenerates
no pollution in that the combustion forms water in
very minute q~antities. Such engines, however, have
not been brought into general use because of the
inefficiency in the generation of hydrogen and oxygen
through electrolysis which takes far more power than
can be generated from the hydrogen and oxygen used
as a fuel, even in high efficiency engines.
It has also been suggested to use small amounts
of hydrogen added to the hydrocarbon fuel-air mixture
to increase the efficiency or reduce the pollution of
the internal combustion engine. One prior patent,
U.S. Patent No. 3,906,913, discusses in detail the
advantages of the use of small amounts o~ hydrogen -
with the hydrocarbon fuel-air mixture of a vehicle
and points out that the advantages of reduced pollu-
tion and increased mileage result ~rom running the
engine much leaner than can otherwise be accomplished
because the misEire limit for hydrocarbon fuels can
be well exceeded. The carbon monoxide and other
emissions have been found to decrease as the fuel-air
ratio is made leaner and that if the fuel-air ratio
can be sufficiently lean, it can be made substantially
pollutant ~ree. This patent shows a hydrogen generator
and means-to control the fee~ of the hydrogen to the
,engine so that theconventional fuel engine can be run
very lean, well below where the engine would normally
misfire as the engine approaches the flammability
~ 1685~8
limit of fuel. The normal flammability limit for
hydrocarbon fuel--air mixtures occurs with a relatively
high NOX formation rate and thereby imposes severe
limitations on the lean limit operation for the fuel.
Since hydrogen exhibits a flammability limi~ well
below that of conventional hydrocarbon fuels, it is
possible to reduce the NOx simply by using the hydro-
gen to change the fuel-air mixture to a much leaner
mixture than would normally be allowed. The extension
of the misfire limit to very lean equivalence ratios
with hydrogen fuel also yields si~nificant increases
in the thermodynamic efficiency of the combustion pro-
cess, thereby allows a substantial increase in the
mileage obtained on a conventional internal combustion
~ueled engine vehicle.
The difficulties in using hydrogen either as the
sole fuel or in combination with a conventional inter-
nal combustion engine results from the hydrogen being
a ubiquitous and very flammable gas t S that the stor-
~0 age increases the hazards of operating the engine andin the general inefficiency in generating the hydro-
gen such as through electrolysis on the vehicleu
The present invention is directed toward the use
of an ammonia gas used in combination with a conven-
tional hydrocarbon fuel-air mixture to increase the
efficiency of the engine and to reduce pollution in
the engine. Ammonia has been mentioned as a consti-
tuent of various types of fuels in the past, both for
internal combustion engines and for jet propulsion.
One su`ch fuel is a li~uid mixture of ammonious nitrate
in liquid ammonia which is a self-sustaining fuel
combination requiring no addition of an oxident such
as air. Ammonia is also used to manufacture hydrozene,
a ~Jell kno~n rocket fuel, and while ammonia does not
support combustion it will burn when mixed with
1 16852~
oxygen in air to give a variety of products, princi~
pally nitrogen and water. Mixtures of nitrous oxide
and ammonia in a rate of 3 to 2 will detonate with
some violence yielding nitrogen and water.
One prior U.S. patent showing the use of ammonia
as a constituent in fuel for internal combustion en-
gines can be seen in the Drouilly Patent, No. 2,559,605,
for a fuel mixture fox internal combustion engines.
In this patent, ammonia gas is fed from one storage
ln cylinder into a pressure reducing cha~ber and a sec-
ond bottle containing an auxiliary gas, such as
ethanized illuminating gas, is fed into a second ex-
pansion chamber and the two gases are then fed into
a mixing chamber, and from the mixing chamber into a
carburetor, This patent also discusses the use of
- carbon monoxide, methyl ether, ehtyl ether, methyl
amine and ethyl amine in combination with ammonia.
In the U.S. patent to Meyer, No. 1,671,158, a fuel
for use in internal combustion engines consists of
a mixture of hydrocarbon distillates with ether and
a highly volatile basic material, which may be ammonia.
This mixture can then be used in internal combustion
engines according to the patent. The U.S. patent to
Brooks, No. 1,748,507, shows a process of reducing
stable hydrocarbon oils in which ammonia or certain
alkaline compounds are mixed with light hydrocarbon
oils to prevent discoloration and sedimentation. In
two of these U.S. patents, ammonia is used in small
amounts in a fuel mixture, which may then be used
as a uel in an internal combustion engine, while
in the Drouilly patent, expanded ammonia gas is mixed
with another gas to form a gaseous fuel mixture for
running an internal combustion engine~
The advantage in using ammonia in the present
invention is that ammonia is useful as a convenient
means for transporting small volumes of hydrogen
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since the gases obtained by decomposition contains
75% by volume of hydrogen and 25~ by volume of nitro-
gen. The ammonia is easily lique~ied either by cool-
ing to below i~s normal boiling point of -33.42C or
S by compression and can be stored in small compression
cylinders. Ammonia can be thermally dissociated in
the presence of certain catalysts to give nitrogen
and hydrogen and dissociation can also be affected
by photochemical means or by passing an electrical
discharge through the gas. Ammonia can be obtained
a number of ways, but is normally prepared syntheti-
cally by a modification of the Haber process using
- pressures between 200 and 1,000 atmospheres and
temperatures between 400 and 500C along with a
variety of catalysts. The present invention advan-
tageously can be adapted as an add-on to existing
hydrocarbon fueled internal com~ustion engines as
well as designed for new vehicles and allows a sub-
stantial increase in the mileage obtained from the
hydrocarbon fuels and a reduction of at least certain
pollutants in the exhaust of the vehicles and since
the dissociated ammonia is metered in accordance with
the requirements of the engine and the leaning of
the engine can be similarly be controlled, the effi-
ciency can be easily optimized for any particularinternal combustion engine. Accordingly, the aim of
the invention is to increase the efficiency of an
internal combustion engine by dissociating ammonia,
feeding the hydrogen dissociated from the ammonia to
the engine with the fuel-air charge and leaning the
engine below its normal operating range.
S~
An improvement in internal combustion engines is
provided in an internal combustion engine having a
5 2 8
conventional hydrocarbon fuel-air mixture for producing
the internal combustion within the combustion chambers.
An ammonia storage tank is used for storing of ammonia
in proximity to the internal combustion engine for
feeding ammonia from the storage tank to the internal
combustion engine with the fuel-air mixture charge.
A feed control valve meters the ammonia for varying
the rate of feed of the ammonia to the combustion cham-
ber responsive to varyin~ operating conditions of the
internal combustion engine while a catalyst and waste
engine heat are coupled between the storage tank and
the engine. The ammonia gas being fed to the engine
combustion chambers allows the internal combustion
engine fuel-air mixture to be leaned to a point below
the operating limits of the engine using only hydro-
carbon fuel.
,
Brief Description of the Drawings
Other objects, features and advantages of the
present invention will be apparent from the written
description and the drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of an internal
combustion engine fuel system in accordance with the
present invention;
Figure 2 is a cutaway side elevation of a gas
metering valve used in the embodiment of Figure l;
Figure 3 is a side elevation of the throttle
connection for the gas metering valve of Figu~e 2;
Figure 4 is a diagra~natical view of a second
embodiment of the invention; and
30Figure 5 is a circuit diagram for the electronic
control of the valve shown in Figure 4.
1168528
Description of the Preferred Embodiments
Referring to Figures 1 through 3 of the drawings,
an internal combustion engine (10) is illustrated ~rith
a carburetor (11) feeding into an intake manifold
connected to the engine block (13), which also has an
exhaust manifold (14) connected thereto and a radiator
(15) connected to the engine block (13) by water
hoses (16, 17~. The engine (10) is a standard internal
combustion engine using refined hydrocarbon fuels fed
from a fuel tank (18) through a gas line ~20) to the
carburetor (11), and connected by throttle linkage
(21) to accelerator pedal (22) located in a vehicle.
The exhaust from the exhaust manifold (143 is fed
through the tailpipe 523) through a muffler (24) into
the atmosphere, and in recent engines might include
a catalytic converter as part of a pollution control
package. The engine illustrated is a standard internal
combustion engine of the type used in vehicles, but
the present invention can be easily adapted to an
engine having fuel injection rather than a carburetor
or to a diesel engine burning oil rather than gasoline.
A tank of anhidrous ammonia (24) is attached to
the engine (10) has a pressure gauge (25) and an
ammonia safety release valve (26) attached to the
ammonia tank (24). The safety release valve is a
spring loaded valve which will open momentarily when
the pressure exceeds a predetermined pressure, such
as 250 psi. Ammonia is stored in the ammonia storage
tank (24) in a liquid state, but is ~ed in a gaseous
or liquid state out a line (27) and in a gaseous
state into an ammonia dissociator (28) having an en-
larged cylinder (30) having a spaced inner cylindrical
chamber (31) mounted therein so that exhaust gas
coming out of the header (32) passes through the en-
larged cylinder (30) into the tailpipe (23), around
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the inner cylind~r (31). The inner chamber (31~ isfilled with one or more catalysts from a group in-
cluding iron, nickel, osmium, zinc and uranium.
Typically, the catalyst might be iron and nickel,
S which may be in the form of steel wool, or the like,
so that the gas entering the chamber (31) passes
therethrough while being heated by the considerable
heat of the engine exhaust, so as to utilize the waste
exhaust heat for dissociation. In ~he presence of
the catalyst, the dissociation of ammonia begins as
low as 3Q0C and is nearly complete at 500-600C.
The amrnonia gas enters the dissociator (28) at the
input (33) at one end of the chamber (31) while pass-
in~ through the catalyst. The catalyst baffles the
gas and assists in the rapid heating of the gas pass-
ing therethrough. The gas in line (34) is substan-
tially dissociated ammonia, 3 parts hydrogen and 1 part
nitrogen, but would retain at least traces of ammonia
with the disassociated gas. The dissociation of
ammonia appears to be analogous to the reverse of the
Haber process, which uses high pressure so that it is
believed that the negative pressure generated by the
intake manifold vacuum enhances the disassociation of
the ammonia.
` The gases in line (34) are fed to valve (35),
the operation which is shown more clearly in Figure
2. The valve (35) has an air input line (36) and
is actuated from a linkag~ (37) connected to the
throttle linkage (21) which is operated by the accel-
erator pedal ~22). The gas from line (34) and theair from the air input line (36) are fed through a
line t38) and through individual lines (40) into
individual inputs to the intake manifold (12) so as
to distribute the air mixed with the dissociated
ammonia and any ammonia evenly into each cylinder.
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g
The air is fed through line (36) in a controlled
ratio and is an easy method o~ leaning down the normal
air to hydrocarbon fuel mixture of the carburetor (11).
That is, the more air fed into line (36) and into the
intake manifold, the leaner the intake mixture.
The amount of air being fed to the combustion
chambers, as well as the amount o~ dissociated ammonia
is actuated through a connection to the throttle link-
age ~21). The-hydrogen input, as well as the amount
of l~aning, is varied in accordance with the operatio~
of the throttle to give a more efficient mixture of
hydrogen, hydrocarbon uel and air. An alternate
`ammonia preheater (41) is illustrated connected to a
water line (42) through a T-joint (43~ connected in
the water line (44) and back into the cooling system
of the engine (10). An ammonia inlet line (45) ~an
be connected to the line (27), pass through a coiled
pipe or heat exchanger located in the preheater (41)
where it is connected to the line (33) feeding into
the dissociator (28). The preheater can remove the
chill from the rapidly expanding ammonia gas and
thereby reduce the total amount of heat that must be
provided in the dissociator (28). A preheater can
also be made in other ways such as wrapping the
ammonia line around the tailpipe without departing
from the scope of the invention.
Turning to Figure 2, the valve (35) is illustrated
in more detail and has a throttl~ linkage connection
member (47) connected to a throttle linkage member
(48), attached to a standard linkage (50~. The
throttle linkage (47) abuts against a plate (51) which
is spring loaded by spring (52~ against stop nuts
(53). Spring (52) is held in place by members (54,
55). The pressing on the accelerator pedal pushes
the throttle linkage (50) and bracket (58) to push
the connecting bracket (47), which may be welded or
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`` 10
bolted to the bracket (48) to push the plate (51)
against spring (52), driving a pair of sliding rods
(55, 56). Rod (46) rides in a ga~ feed housing (S7)
~ed by line (34), as seen in Figure 1, while sliding
rod (55) slides in a housing ~58) fed by the air
input line (36)~ Sliding rod (56) may have an O-ring
seal (60) and a threaded adjusting rod (61) threaded
into the shaft (56). The adjusting rod (61) slides
in a chamber (62) and engages a truncated cone valve
element (63), which operates in connection with the
valve seat (64). The valve element (63) is spring
loaded by a sprin~ (65), so that raising or lowering
the plate (51) raises or lowers the shaft (56~, and
threaded member (61) to push against the bottom ~69)
of the valve element (63) to drive the valve element
(63) agsinst the spring (65) thereby opening the valve
in proportion to the movement of the throttle linkage
to allow gas to pass around the valve seat (64) through
a passageway ~66) into a T-connection ~67) and out line
(38). Similarly, lifting of.~the plate (51) lifts the
shaft (55) which has an O-ring seal (68) and a thread-
ed adjusting member (70) which is then threaded into
the shaft (55) and will push against the base (71) of
a truncated cone valve element (72) opera-ting in con-
`junction with valve seat (7~). The valve element (72)is spring biased by spring ~4) in a chamber (75).
The shaft ~70) passes through a smaller chamber (76)
opening to a passageway ~77) into the T-connection
(67). This side of the valve also has an adjusting
valve ~78), adjusted with a handle t80) to provide
a fixed adjustment for the flow of air from the pipe
(36).
In operation, the accelerator pedal (22), of
Figure 1, is operated in a normal manner, but drives
the throttle linkage and thereby the bracket (47)
ll 1168528
attached to throttle plate (48) to raise and lower
plate (51) to vary the input of hydrogen, nitrogen
and any residual ammonia from the line (34) and the
air from the air line (36) into the line (38), which
is coupled into the individual intake manifold in-
lets. The valve (35) is supported by a bracket (81)
and a bolt (82) and nut (83) to the carburetor (ll).
It should be clear at this point that an ammonia,
hydrocarbon fuel and air system has been provided for
internal combustion engines~ It should also be clear
that the system can be adapted for fuel injection sys-
tems, and that the dissociator (28) and the catalyst
do not have to be in the combined unit as illustrated
in Figure l, but can be separate units if desired.
It should also be clear that a significant increase
in the mileage obtained in a standard gasoline engine
is believed to be due to the leaning of the engine
below the normal misfire limits by the use of disso-
ciated hydrogen, and that the leaned down engine is
believed to provide significant improvement in the
reduction of at least certain of the pollutants gen-
erated by the conventional internal combustion engine,
even with the addition of added nitrogen to the engine.
rom the dissociated ammonia. However, ammonia that
.has not dissociated, as well as added nitrogen, are
believed to increas~ the benefits ohtained in ~ombus- -
tion.
Turning now to Figures 4 and 5,.a third embodiment
of the present invention is illustrated having an
internal combustion engine (90~ with an intake~mani-
fold (91), an exhaust manifold (92) and a standard
carburetor (93), having a liquid hydrocarbon fuel
line (94) feeding into a fuel bowl (95), forming part
of the carburetor (93). Air is fed through an air
filter (95) into the carburetor (93) and into the
intake manifold (91) and thus into the combustion
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12
chambers of the internal combustion engine t90). While
exhaust gases from the combustion chambers is fed
through a tailpipe (96), a muffler (97) and into the
atmosphere. An ammonia storage tank (98) stores
ammonia in a liquefied state and has a pressure gauge
(100) and ammonia sa~ety release valve (101) which is
adapted to momentarily open when the pressure exceeds
the predetermined set pressure and to close after a
short opening. The ammonia as a liquid or gas is fed
from the cylinder (98) containing liquid ammonia
through a line ~102) through an electronically con-
trolled fuel valve (103) which varies in accordance
with the voltage applied thereto by a central elec-
tronic control (104). Ammonia passing through the
valve (103) passes through a line (105) into the
heating unit (106) capturing heat from the exhaust of
the engine. The heating unit is located as close to
the combustion cylinders as possible, and may be in-
corporated into the exhaust header. ~mmonia gas also
passes through a catalyst (107) which normally would
be combined with the heating unit (106) as illustrated
in connection with Figure 1. Ammonia gas from the
catalyst (107) is fed into a distribution manifold
(108) which is connected to an air inlet (110) through
`a second electronic controlled valve (111) which
meters the air being fed to the distribution manifold
(108). The combination of air and at least partially
dissociated ammonia is fed through a plurality of
gas lines (112) to individual manifold inlets (113~ `
of the intake manifold (91~. Thus, in this embodiment,
the control unit (104) varies the valves ~103, 111)
to vary the amount of dissociated ammonia gas and air
fed to the intake-manifold, thereby varying the input
of gas as well as leaning the engine in accordance
- 35 with the control unit.
.
1 1~8528
` 13
The control unit has an electrical conductor
(114) which is connected to the accelerator pedal
(115) which is connected to the throttle linkage
(116) and to the throttle (117)~ Conductor (114)
then feeds a signal that can vary the output voltage
or signal through line (118) to the valve (103) and
through the line (120) to the valve (111) to open
the normally closed valves in proportion to the
movement of the throttle. A temperature sensor (121)
can be inserted in the exhaust system, such as in
the exhaust header, to produce a signal through the
line (122) to the control unit ~104).
The control unit (104) can be more clearly
understood in connection with fiture 5, in which ~he
accelerator pedal (115) is connected through a link-
age (123) to the movable contact of a potentiometer
(124) which is connected from an electrical terminal
(125) through~the ignition switch (126) through the
potentiometer (124) to a ground (127) to thereby
vary the voltage in the line (114) to t~è control
unit (104). A variable resistance (128) can be used
to determine the minimum value of the signal of the
moving contact of the potentiometer (124). The
control unit (104) includes a standard amplifier for
amplifying the signai from the line (114? as well
as a relay or solenoid switch actuated by the thermal
sensor (122). The thermal switch disables the con-
trol unit (104) until a suf~icient temperature is
reached in the exhaust manifold. This prevents
ammonia and air from being fed to the unit until
su~ficient heat is available to dissociate a portion
of the ammonia. A momentary delay circuit can momen-
tarily delay the signal in the line (120) to the valve
~111) to assure that the air and ammonia gas will
reach the distribution manifold (108) at the same
time, so as not to momentarily lean the engine (90)
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14
down, prior to dissociated ammonia being fed to the
engine.
A simplified electrical control e~bodiment of
the invention has been illustrated in connection with
Figures 4 and 5, but it should be clear that the next
generation control unit would typically include a
microprocesser, receiving signals not only from the
throttle, but may include an exhaust sensor which
changes it's electrical conductivity corresponding
to the concentration of certain exhaust gases, oxygen
or hydrogen over the sensor. In addition, exhaust
gas control systems such as are commonly used on air-
planes may be adapted for use in the control unit,
along with sensors indicating engine speed and intake
manifold pressure, which input signals can produce an
optimum control of the feeding of dissociated ammonia
and air to the engine (90) even if the desired feed
in non linear. It should be clear that the feeding
of air for leaning the engine (90) is easily accom-
plished for add-on units for adding onto existing
internal combustion engines (90), but that the engine
can also be leaned through specially designed carbure-
tors without departing from the spirit and scope of
the invention. A custom designed carburetor or fuel
injection unit might also include the control of the
feed of the ammonia with the fuel-air mixture leaned
in a different manner without departing from the
spirit and scope of the invention. Similarl~, the
control of the unit of a fuel injection engine can
be operated in conjunction with the control of the
injectors. It should also he clear that the engine
can be switched over entirely to dissociated ammonia.
Accordingly, the present invention is not to be
construed as limited to the forms shown herein, which
are to be considered illustrative rather than restric-
tive.
